Saving a Life

Have you ever saved someone's physical life?  I would imagine that doing so would be an incredible cause for rejoicing.  Medical professionals get to save people's physical lives frequently.  Other times, they lose the battle; the person dies.  A medical professional's life is filled with both tremendous celebration and horrific sorrow.  I have often wondered how they deal with that emotional roller coaster, day after day.

I heard a follow-up news story last night, about a little girl (6 years old) and her sister (14 years old) who were swimming in a park, near the AL-GA state line, around a year ago.  The swift current began to sweep the younger sister away.  The older sister struggled to rescue her, and in so doing, lost her own life.  She gave the ultimate sacrifice, to save her sister.

Today's text is Colossians 1:24-29 (NET).

24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 25I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God – given to me for you – in order to complete the word of God, 26that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 27God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. 29Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.

Christian: If someone asked you to describe your calling from the Lord, what would you say?  I imagine that your response would be colored by what you were going through at the time you were asked.  Still....
Here, we see Paul give one of the clearest descriptions of his life's purpose, since his conversion on that Damascus road.  And, it is startling in its intensity.  Let's begin at the end of the passage, and of this chapter, with verse 29.

Paul states that the engine for achieving God's purposes in his life is the power of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit.  Paul does not attempt to do anything in his own puny power, because he knows that it would be a dismal failure.  This is echoed in his famous "I can do all things through Christ..." verse (Philippians 4:13).  Notice that his mission is not easy.  It is a titanic struggle.  Jesus described this as "taking up your cross daily", in Luke 9:23.  Sounds pretty depressing, doesn't it?  Why, then, does Paul, in verse 24 start this passage by exclaiming that he "rejoices" in his sufferings?

Remember: at the time of this writing, Paul was on house arrest in Rome, living out the last few years of his life.  It is not an exaggeration to say that he was suffering, and that he had suffered much. Why, then, his rejoicing?

God tasked Paul with carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile world.  This assignment was a "mystery" to the Jews.  Benson , in his commentary, described the word like this:  "not a matter hard to be understood, but a matter long concealed, and, when revealed, difficult to be believed, through the prejudices of men."  I've heard the word "mystery" would be better translated as "secret".  God had given Paul a startling secret to reveal: namely, that the gospel applied not just to the Jews, but to the whole world.

The crux of Paul's mission is in verse 28.  The ultimate goal is to save lives....not physical lives, but spiritual lives...What Paul is describing is not some kind of "fee" required to earn a place in Heaven. He is describing his "love offering" to his Savior, a love offering of souls whom he was used by Christ to bring to salvation and then to disciple to mature discipleship.

THIS should be the end result of all of our separate, diverse callings, Christian.  It is the most important work in the world, even more important than saving a physical life!  Jude (1:23) describes this calling, our ultimate goal, as "snatching them out of the fire" (of Hell, we might logically conclude).

One last point: that suffering aspect Paul mentions.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could fulfill Christ's great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) without the heartbreak of suffering, even to the point of death?  Often, we get lulled into a blissful stupor, just rolling along doing what Christ called us to do, unaware that Satan has us in the crosshairs of his rifle scope, that a spiritual target is on our backs, so to speak.  That becomes our "normal".  Then, the suffering hits.  And, we are surprised, amazed, flabbergasted!  "How can this be?", we ask!  We were doing as Jesus called us to do!  Why did this happen?

Paul states that obedient Christians can expect to share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ.  If we are faithful to our callings, as described in verse 29, we will become wounded in the cosmic, spiritual battle in which we are engaged.  We will receive wounds which will become battle scars.
The phrase "afflictions of Christ", used in verse 29, appears nowhere else in scripture.  It goes beyond the everyday burdens of life we encounter.  It is a "whole 'nuther level", even to the intensity of Christ's actual physical and spiritual sufferings.
Paul referred to this in 2 Corinthians 1:5, when he said "the sufferings of Christ overflow to us" or what Paul echoed in 1 Peter 4:12 - - -  

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.

Or, what Jesus meant when he spoke to the "sons of thunder" 's mother about "drinking from His cup", in Matthew 20:23.

Yet, do we not howl with a great howling lament when this comes?  Do we not tend to run from it, as if it signifies some sort of spiritual deficit?  Do we not avoid it by pretending it is not there?  These are worldly, spiritually-immature attitudes.  Yes, the world looks at us in our suffering and thinks, as the Jews thought in John 9:2, that we must have done something wrong to "deserve" such suffering, that we have perhaps "fallen out of God's favor".

Paul makes it clear that all of Christ's disciples have inherited such suffering, will experience such suffering, by virtue of our choosing to follow Him, to "save lives for all eternity".  The question for each of us is simply this:  will we embrace the titanic struggle as Paul did?  Will we rejoice in it?

Is the hot battle worth it all?  Oh, yes, it most surely is!

Father, may we not be surprised when the "fiery trial" comes upon us, as we fulfill Your calling on our lives by "saving lives".  Give us the strength, which can only come from your Holy Spirit, to embrace and rejoice in every aspect of being Jesus' disciple.  In His holy name we pray, amen.

Source:

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/colossians/1-24.htm

Strength and Glory

With some degree of humor and amazement I often discover that wherever I am in my study of the Scriptures, God asks me to "live it out" in my daily life.  That place is now at one of the most often-quoted Scriptures ever, Philippians 4:13, 20 (NET) - - -

13  I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.

20  May glory be given to God our Father forever and ever. Amen.

Verse 13 has spawned such platitudes as, "If He called you to it, He'll bring you through it," which...depends on what you mean by "through it".  Jim Elliott, who was killed by native peoples in the jungles of Ecuador, while there to spread the gospel, was taken on to Heaven, after all.

Between verses 13 and 20 Paul is speaking to the Philippians further about more mundane and logistical matters, culminating in the lovely promise of verse 19.

So, if God leads us to a difficult task, will He see us through it?  Will He give us the strength to complete the task?  What about when the task appears to be a failure?  What about then?

Verse 13 is a comfort to me, and especially so this week and next.  Both weeks present entirely different challenges, all of which I believe God has called me to.  But, last night, as I lay sleepless at (and after) 1:00 a.m., I prayed, "Lord, I cannot get through these next 11 days alone.  If you don't help and strengthen me, I won't make it."   The Power Principle here is to not depend on our own paltry "strength", but to tap into and rely on His.

My situations over the next few days are "episodic".  By the end of next week, things should have "settled down".  Some of you are in long-term crises, such as caring for a chronically sick spouse. My second cousin died last week of ALS.  Over the past year, her husband was in a long-term crisis of care for her as her health precipitously declined.  These situations require God's supernatural strength as well.

But, really, should we not be living this way, even in the day-to-day and seemingly hum-drum?  My friend was telling me that she asked God yesterday for something mundane, and then felt guilty for it because she didn't need to "bother" Him with something so ... plain.  But, our God of the Glorious and Stupendous is also the God of the Smalls.  He comes to us in the cataclysms as well as in the quiet.  He is concerned with every, "minor" detail of our lives, and wants to be God of all, every single iota.  He loves for His children to ask!  And, His gifts are there for the asking and taking. What

The reason I was meditating on verse 13 as well as verse 20 is that, often, these critical situations to which God calls us, these challenges, were not in our plan, the short-term or the long-term.  But, they were in God's plan, the overall plan which will bring Him glory.  Earlier, Paul was talking about being in need and being in abundance.  In both situations, he had learned to be content because, in the tough times, he leaned on Christ's strength as sustenance and as power source.  And, he KNEW that whatever befell him, it was for the glory of God.

When, as Christians, we combine these two scriptural truths, we are then allowing ourselves to be used mightily for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, during our time here on earth.

Paul's final word in Philippians is "Amen", a word which means, "let it be so".  It is a word which aligns our will with Father's will, a word which signifies agreement, between Christians who pray corporately and between child and Father, in individual prayer.

May His will, whatever it entails, be worked out in each of the lives of His own beloved, as He gives us His strength to accomplish it.  And, may all the glory for His work in our lives be given to God the Father, forever and ever.

Amen.

The Default Setting and the New iOS

I had no idea that Romans 5 was such a wonderful chapter!  Really.  It tells God's Story from beginning to end, in one chapter.  So, today we are going to finish it up, by focusing on the last two
"-ion" words:  sanctification and glorification.

Sanctification
When I was in college I got to sing my first classic choral masterwork, a mass.  Not having been raised Catholic, I had no idea what a mass was, other than I knew it was the Catholic church service. A choral mass is a large work, comprised of 5 major sections:  Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Benedictus, Agnus Dei.  Latin is a dead language, they say.  But, it lives on in the masterworks of Bach, Beethoven, Verdi, Mozart and others.  And, in those masterworks, Latin is gorgeous.  It "sings"!  A little early for puns, you say?  I agree.... moving on!
So, you may have noticed that one of the sections of the mass is called "sanctus", a word that basically means "holy".  It is the same root that gives us the English word, "sanctification" - - being set apart to become more like Jesus, more "holy".
Here's how God designed it: we can't "holify" ourselves by our own good works.  After becoming Christ's, however, His Holy Spirit within us sanctifies us, through supernatural power.   Sounds wonderful, right?  Look at verses 3-4 (NET).

3Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

When we identify with, align our hearts with Jesus Christ, sufferings, trials, tribulations inevitably result.  This is because we have then put ourselves in opposition with the majority of people in this world, standing against their philosophies, practices and beliefs.  Satan immediately puts us on his radar.  (As long as we were not Christ's, we were no threat to him, you see.)  Even if we do not fully realize it, when we become a Christian by experiencing that forever-change-of-heart, we become utterly powerful to tear down the strongholds Satan has erected in this world.  This conquering power is from Christ Himself, through His Holy Spirit (Philippians 4:13).
If we "sink deep" into Jesus, drawing on the supernatural power He gives us, He transforms us from being righteous in Him to being a warrior for Him.  That is what it means when Paul says that our problems produce endurance, character and hope.
Now what about that last bit: hope?
Remember: hope as defined in the Bible has a different connotation from our customary use of the word in modern English.  The Greek word "elpis" (ἐλπίς) means "an expectation of what is certain."
Mothers will understand this.  We call a pregnant woman an "expectant mother".  She is "expecting". Now, without getting overly graphic, let's just say that what is inside her is going to come out, one way or the other.  Right?  There's no "Perhaps the baby will come out".  It's coming.  No doubt.

Think about a successful job, perhaps the first one you got as a young person.  You were probably scared to death at first.  But, each success on the job gave you more confidence, didn't it?  The harder you worked, the better you got.  Well, it is sort of like that with sanctification.  When you yield to the Spirit, He produces spiritual "fruit" (successes) in your own spirit.  This is what Paul means by "character".  And, the more He is allowed (through your surrender) to sanctify you, the more confident of "who you are, in Christ".  This state of ever-becoming more like Jesus is what Paul calls "reigning in life" (vs. 17), resplendent daughters and sons!  Hallelujah!
When you experience justification, the last "-ion" word we talked about yesterday, you KNOW that you have been changed forever.  You KNOW that your eventual destination is Heaven.  But, through sanctification, you become even more confident and excited about "that blessed hope", the certainty of Heaven.  It's like a runner running a race: you see the finish line in the distance.  The closer it gets, the clearer you can see it and the more excited you are to reach it!

Glorification
Sanctification and glorification cannot be separated.  They go together, inseparably.  Romans 8:30 tells us that if you belong to Christ (justification), you will not be sinless; rather, you will be becoming more and more like Christ in some way.  You will not be a "fruitless fig tree" (Luke 6:30). It is impossible.  Oh, you may go through "phases" where you are temporarily walking in disobedience; but, you will be miserable the whole time, deep down in your soul.  Sanctification is the "default setting" for each believer.
This is the beginning of glorification!  One flows into the other.  The final transition is made when physical death comes to the believer, the Christ-follower.  But, there is no fear in death for the believer!  Our Savior has conquered it for us.  Physical death is merely stepping from sanctification into full-on glorification, the "new operating system"!  When we were dead (spiritually) in our sins, death reigned in us.  When we were made alive (spiritually) in Christ Jesus, grace reigned and will reign in us forever.

so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:21

Eternal life - - ultimate glorification.  Psalm 16:1l sums up the marriage of justification-sanctification-glorification beautifully.  In closing, think about that as you ponder this verse:

You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

NASB

Father, eternity is now.  We need to grasp that truth and apply it to our lives.  Physical death is merely a mile marker on the road to glory.  And, every step we take brings us closer to you! We are so very, very cherished and loved.  Do your supernatural conversion in each of us.  Thank you, Lord! In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

http://biblehub.com/greek/1680.htm